Avaliação atividade antifúngica do mirtenol frente Candida albicans E Candida parapsilosis fluconazol resistente

Abstract

Candidiasis or oral candidiasis is a disease most commonly caused by Candida albicans, present in the microbiota as commensals, it is an opportunistic infection being observed mainly in immunocompromised patients. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the healthy population carries Candida species in the oral cavity. In the treatment of mild oral candidiasis, azole or polyene antifungals are highlighted. The adverse effects and cost of conventional antifungal treatment have led to the search for new drugs, one of the alternatives being terpenes. Extracted from essential oils are complex mixtures of various compounds, myrtenol being an example. In this work, the activity of myrtenol against fluconazole resistant Candida strains was verified. Minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum fungicidal concentration, in addition to modulation and association studies (checkerboard method) were performed via the microdilution technique. With the strains tested, myrtenol demonstrated minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) at concentrations of 512 μg/mL, so it has weak antifungal activity and is fungicidal. In the assay of modulation of myrtenol in subinhibitory concentration with the main antifungal agents, there was an increase in the MIC of these drugs. When myrtenol was associated with these antifungal agents (checkboard method), synergistic or indifferent results were observed with fluconazole or amphotericin B, respectively. Myrtenol has weak antifungal activity against the strains tested, but with a fungicidal characteristic, it does not increase the activity of fluconazole and amphotericin B and, in association with conventional antifungal agents, it showed a synergistic or indifferent effect depending on the strain tested.